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Seven samurai to protect “our” food: the reform of the food safety regulatory system in Japan after the BSE crisis of 2001

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  • Keiko Tanaka

Abstract

Using the case of food safety governance reform in Japan between 2001 and 2003, this paper examines the relationship between science and trust. The paper explains how the discovery of the first BSE positive cow and consequent food safety scandals in 2001 politicized the role of science in protecting the safety of the food supply. The analysis of the Parliamentary debate focuses on the contestation among legislators and other participants over three dimensions of risk science, including “knowledge,” “objects,” and “beneficiaries.” The metaphor of “seven samurai” and the relationally situated roles of “samurai,” “bandits,” and “beneficiaries” are used to show that in the process of policy making certain moral and ethical expectations on a new expert institution for food safety were contested and negotiated to frame responsibilities and commitments of social actors for creating the food system based on trust. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Suggested Citation

  • Keiko Tanaka, 2008. "Seven samurai to protect “our” food: the reform of the food safety regulatory system in Japan after the BSE crisis of 2001," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(4), pages 567-580, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:25:y:2008:i:4:p:567-580
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-008-9152-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ladina Caduff & Thomas Bernauer, 2006. "Managing Risk and Regulation in European Food Safety Governance," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 23(1), pages 153-168, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Diana Stuart & Michelle Worosz, 2012. "Risk, anti-reflexivity, and ethical neutralization in industrial food processing," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(3), pages 287-301, September.
    2. Jones, Kevin Edson & Davidson, Debra J., 2014. "Adapting to food safety crises: Interpreting success and failure in the Canadian response to BSE," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 250-258.
    3. Aya Kimura, 2011. "Food education as food literacy: privatized and gendered food knowledge in contemporary Japan," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(4), pages 465-482, December.
    4. Marcia Barcellos & Klaus Grunert & Yanfeng Zhou & Wim Verbeke & F. Perez-Cueto & Athanasios Krystallis, 2013. "Consumer attitudes to different pig production systems: a study from mainland China," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 443-455, September.

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